How SmilePass works

SmilePass is a subscription and payments platform for dental clinics. This article explains the moving parts so the rest of the wiki makes sense.

The core model

• Your clinic is the account. A clinic can run one or more locations (individual practices/sites). Everything — plans, members, payments and reporting — is scoped to a location.
• You offer patients two types of payment solution: memberships and payment plans (more on the difference below).
• A patient who joins becomes a member, tied to a contract: the living record of what they pay, on what cycle, and which plan they're on.
• SmilePass handles the recurring billing, renewals, invoices and reminders against that contract automatically — you don't run charges by hand.
• Money flows to your own bank account (via Stripe + BECS direct debit); SmilePass charges your practice separately for its subscription and a small transaction fee.

Two ways to get paid: memberships vs payment plans

SmilePass does two distinct jobs. Most clinics use both.

Memberships — an open-ended subscription. The patient pays a recurring fee (weekly / fortnightly / monthly / annually) in exchange for a bundle of included services and discounts on further treatment. It bills on its cycle indefinitely until cancelled. Use it to build predictable recurring revenue and loyalty. See building membership plans.

Payment plans — instalment financing for one specific treatment cost. The patient spreads a fixed amount (say a $4,000 implant case) across a set number of instalments — it has a defined total and a defined end, not an ongoing subscription. Use it to make high-ticket treatment affordable and lift case acceptance. See payment plans and taking a payment.

Aspect	Membership	Payment plan
What it is	Recurring subscription	Instalment financing for one treatment
Amount	A recurring fee	A fixed total, split into instalments
Ends?	Open-ended (until cancelled)	When the instalments are paid off
Used for	Recurring revenue, included services, loyalty	Making a specific high-cost treatment affordable

Alongside these, you can also send a one-off Instant Payment (a single charge by link) and, on paid tiers, place a Payment Hold (authorise a deposit without capturing it) — see taking a payment.

What patients can (and can't) do

Patients do not log in, and there is no patient dashboard. Their entire interaction with SmilePass is through one-time secure links:

• a signup link to join a membership,
• a payment link to pay an instant charge or set up a payment plan,
• an invoice link to pay or update their details,
• an overdue link if a payment fails.

Everything else — building plans, enrolling members, taking payments, reading reports — happens inside the clinic-facing app, run by your team.

Where to go next

• New to the dashboard? Start with Getting started.
• Want to see what a patient experiences? See the patient signup flow.
• Ready to build a recurring plan? Jump to membership plans.
• Financing a specific treatment? See payment plans.